February 3, 2008
Morning Worship
Text: Acts 12: 1-19
Subject: Breaking Free From Bondage
Title: Free at Last
There is a strange phenomenon that takes place when I am driving. And I would be willing to bet (if I bet) that I am not the only person that this happens to. When I am driving on a familiar stretch of road – like when I go down to my Mom’s every Monday – sometimes I forget where I am. It’s not like I’m lost or anything. I just can’t remember where I am. I think that what happens is that I get so caught up with my own thoughts or perhaps I’m listening to a preaching tape or some music, that I just don’t pay attention to where I am or where I have been. Then I will come out of my little trance or whatever you want to call it and I wonder to myself, “Where am I? Did I pass Frankford? Have I been through Bowling Green?” Then I will see something familiar that tells me where I am. It is almost like my time spent on the road becomes a spiritual experience.
It is a little like how children go to sleep in a car and when they wake up they are somewhere else.
Our Christianity is a little like that. We can be cruising along and everything seems fine and suddenly we wake up and we are somewhere different than we were when we last checked. Something that you saw or heard has brought you back to your senses.
That happened to me this week. Jack gave me a CD of my favorite Christian artist and there is one song that really got my attention and it quite literally woke me up from a spiritual sleep and when I awakened I was somewhere different than when I last checked.
The chorus to the song says, “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free. My God my Savior has ransomed me. And like a flood His mercy reigns. Unending love, amazing grace.”
At that point I understood some things about my Christian life that I had never seen before and now I am changed until the next time. I am being changed into His image from glory to glory.
I want to share with you the story of Peter’s imprisonment in Acts chapter 12 and show you the spiritual activity that was taking place that led Peter to a different place. I hope that you will allow the Word of God to take you to a different place today.
I. SPIRITUAL WARFARE/PHYSICAL BATTLEFIELD. (1-5) 1It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. I believe that one of the most talked about topics in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles is spiritual warfare. We all know that there is a continuous spiritual battle being waged for souls and you are right in the middle of the battle. You don’t really have a choice. You can decide whether you want to be on the front line or back at camp but you are involved in the battle nonetheless. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6, 4For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. That is the ferocity of the battle you are in, and that is the type of battle the early church found itself in. If you look at what had happened in the church up to this point you’ll see that thousands of Jews were coming to Christ. Acts 2:41, Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 47, And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 4:4, But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. And besides that now Peter had taken the message to the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house. Do you see what was taking place here? God was working in a wonderful way through His people. But the enemy of your soul does not want the numbers to grow. He wants to keep you beat down and to make you think you are defeated. He will do everything in his power to keep you from being effective in your Christianity. He was using Herod to do that. He had already beheaded James the brother of John and was about to do the same to Peter. He knew that would please the “religious” leaders. In the process he thought it would keep this new sect of Judaism from spreading. So that is the kind of spiritual battle we are under today. There is the threat of persecution simply because you are a Christian. But Paul wrote in Romans 8, 15For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” You don’t have to retreat from the battle because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
II. SPIRITUAL AWAKENING/PHYSICAL SLUMBER. (6-7) 6The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. I don’t know what Peter might have been experiencing. Perhaps he was remembering why it was that he had denied Christ on the eve of His crucifixion. He was afraid for his life. Perhaps he held a picture in his mind of James being executed, thinking that he was next. Or perhaps he just was ready to go and be with the Lord. Whether it was from stress or peace the fact is that Peter was sleeping chained to two Romans soldiers with others guarding the doorway. Go back to verse 5. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Now, I suppose that Peter didn’t know that the church was praying for him, but don’t you know that Peter knew what prayer could do. It was Peter along with John who walked by the cripple at the beautiful gate – a man who had been crippled for over forty years. “Silver and gold I do not have but what I do have I give to you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” Peter knew what prayer could do. Chapter 4 verse 31, After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. In Acts 8, 14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into£ the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 9, 32As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. 33There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. 34“Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. 35All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. and, 39Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. 42This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
Peter knew what prayer could do but now we find him sleeping between two soldiers. He is not prepared for what God is about to do. He needs a spiritual awakening. And God provides one. 1) An angel of the Lord appears. God will go to any length to wake you up to what He is about to do in your life, even if it means sending and angel to you. 2) a light shone in the cell. As Peter slept in darkness, between two agents of darkness, under the oppression of what the Bible says is the prince of darkness, God floods that darkness with light. 3) God will set you free. The angel wasn’t enough. The light wasn’t enough but when he was hit on the side he woke up. Notice that it was not until he woke up that the chains fell off. It was not until Peter was able to understand that what was happening in the spiritual realm was now being manifest in the natural would God release him. Why did God release him? Some would say that it was because it was not Peter’s time to go yet. But I believe that it was because there was a home church that was standing in the gap for him and they were praying earnestly – diligently - for him. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
III. SPIRITUAL OBEDIENCE/PHYSICAL DELIVERANCE (8-11) 8Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Clothe yourself. Get ready. And follow God’s messenger. The Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy rags but we are to be clothed in God’s righteousness and that is through Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5, 1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Meanwhile we are to be a dwelling place for God. Verse 9 tells us a lot about Peter’s spiritual life. 9Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. By this time Peter had matured greatly over what he was when Jesus walked on earth. It was because of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. For someone to be so sensitive to the moving of the Spirit in their lives where they could not tell the difference between a spiritual vision and a physical reality says that Peter was continually walking back and forth between the natural realm to the spiritual realm. One can only do that by seeking God’s face and listening to His voice and responding to His commands with obedience. When you are obedient to the Holy Spirit in the spirit realm there will be spiritual deliverance in the natural. One of the problems with many Christians today is that they want to be delivered from habits but are not willing to trust the spiritual realm for that deliverance. They try to do it themselves, in their power, in their time, in the way of their choosing. But deliverance in the natural only can come by obedience in the spirit. 11Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
IV. SPIRITUAL VICTORY/PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. (12-19) Look at the things taking place in this last section of our passage. 1) answered prayer. 12When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. What do you think they were praying for? 2) surprise. Do you understand that you have over 2000 years of the Word of God and church history that helps you to understand that when you pray you can expect God to answer? These people only had the memory of a slain Rabbi and the words of some itinerant fishermen and tax collectors and political zealots to help them understand God’s will for their lives. Were they surprised? 13Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” This servant girl had great faith. When common sense said that Peter is in prison she heard his voice. When common sense said that no one would believe her she went to tell everyone else. The only thing she forgot to do was to let Peter in. I think she was so excited that she just forgot.3) Doubt Interesting isn’t it, that t Rhoda being just a girl believed, but those who were undoubtedly supposed to be more mature in their faith doubted. Interestingly enough, I don’t doubt that many of these had seen signs and wonders occurring all over the church as God confirmed His word with those same manifestations of His power. 15“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” 16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. It was only because of Pete’s persistence that they came to believe that God was willing and able to answer prayer. 4) testimony. 17Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the brothers about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. Why do you think Peter wanted those who heard to tell the others about what had happened? The Bible says that we are overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. When we tell others about the miraculous work that God has done in us it is an encouragement to them. When we testify to God’s miraculous power people are drawn to Him. When you are not ashamed to speak about how God has transformed you and is transforming you, you open the door for God to do the same in another’s life.
When Peter woke up he was in a different place than where he was when he went to sleep. It was the same cell with the same chains and the same guards. But his spiritual eyes were now opened to God doing something new in his life. It literally saved his life and no doubt changed him forever.
I have to say the same thing about what happened to me this week. That song that Amy sang woke me up from a spiritual slumber. The problem is that I didn’t even realize that I was sleeping. You see, I have continued to do everything I thought the Lord had called me to do. I have pastured this church out of love and a desire to bring the Holy Spirit into your lives in a new and refreshing way. But somewhere along the way I had lost the freshness of my salvation. The tender spirit for God wasn’t as tender. My works had become stale and stagnant. I thought that Holy Spirit power was moving in me. All those things are true, but somehow I had limited them by not being active in my pursuit of the lost. I have missed out on what God has wanted to do through me. I have continued to have a desire to see the lost saved but it wasn’t burning in me like it used to. But I’m here to tell you today, God sent an angel to tap me on the side and say wake up. He has loosened my chains of complacency and clothed me in His righteousness to finish the work He has called me to. Now I remember what is so amazing about grace. I’m Back! I don’t know where I was before but now I’m awake and delivered and ready to fight the good fight. I have laid self on the altar. Nothing can stop me now.
My chains are gone I’ve been set free
My God my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love amazing grace
God has done the same for you. Wake up! Your chains are falling off. God has delivered you from the enemy’s stronghold. Clothe yourself and follow where the Lord is taking you and tell everyone about it. I can honestly tell you that for everyone here there is somebody that has been praying for you and God is hearing and answering that prayer right now.
Don’t let the enemy hold you in bondage any longer. Lay down your weaknesses at the altar. Watch those chains fall off. What are you waiting for?
